Time's Orphan

Notes

In 2374 the O'Brien family visited a planet near to Deep Space Nine for a picnic. Exploring the area, Molly O'Brien fell into an alien device and disappeared without trace. Exhaustive investigation revealed that the device was a time portal which had sent Molly some three hundred years into the past, a time when the entire planet was uninhabited. Working feverishly, O'Brien managed to reactivate the device and transport Molly back. However, a slight error in his calculations resulted in a ten year differential between Molly's arrival and recovery. Instead of the eight year old child who had fallen into the portal, Molly emerged as an eighteen year old woman who had survived the last decade alone.1

Molly was returned to Deep Space Nine with her parents. Having grown up completely without contact with other Humans, she had no idea how to interact with others. She was terrified of artificial environment of the station; Dr. Bashir suggested that a cargo bay be converted into a more natural environment for her, and within this setting her parents began the long, slow process of rebuilding their relationship with Molly. Over time progress was made - she began to learn simple words like "home". Realising that she was missing the planet which had been her home for the last ten years, O'Brien recreated the setting on Quark's holosuite. However, the facility was only available for short periods. Frightened at losing her home again and by the hustle and bustle of the bar, Molly panicked and stabbed a customer with a broken bottle.1

Sisko and Odo felt that there was no choice but to have Molly placed into a care centre. The O'Briens, terrified that placing her in such a facility would greatly traumatise and perhaps even kill Molly, stole a Runabout and returned her to the planet. Miles sent her through the time portal, hoping that she would therefore be permanently out of reach.1

Due to another error, the time portal returned the adult Molly to a period just minutes after she had originally arrived. She discovered her younger self still in the cave. Realising what had happened, the older Molly sent the younger one back through the portal to be reunited with her parents. In taking this action, the older Molly would have erased herself from the timeline.1